The "imaginary dangers" conjured by them were to intimidate the people; but, cried Henry, "fear is the pa.s.sion of slaves." The execution of Josiah Philips under the bill of attainder was justifiable. Philips had been a "fugitive murderer and an outlaw" leader of "an infamous banditti," perpetrator of "the most cruel and shocking barbarities ...
an enemy to human nature."[1214]
It was not true, declared Henry, that the people were discontented under the Confederation--at least the common people were not; and it was the common people for whom he spoke. But, of course, sneered that consummate actor, "the middling and lower ranks of people have not those illuminated ideas" which the "well-born" are so happily possessed of; "they [the common people] cannot so readily perceive latent objects." It was only the "illuminated imaginations" and the "microscopic eyes of modern statesmen" that could see defects where there were none.
Henry hinted with great adroitness at the probable loss of the Mississippi, which was the sorest point with the members from Kentucky; and, having injected the poison, pa.s.sed on to let it do its work against the time when he would strike with all his force. Then he appealed to state pride. "When I call this the most mighty state in the Union, do I not speak the truth? Does not Virginia surpa.s.s every state?" Of course!
There was no danger, then, that Virginia would be left out of the Union, as the Const.i.tutionalists had hinted might happen if Virginia rejected the Const.i.tution; the other States would be glad to have her on her own terms.
Henry went over a variety of subjects and then returned to his favorite idea of the National Government as something foreign. Picking up a careless word of Randolph, who had spoken of the people as a "herd,"
Henry said that perhaps the words "We, the people," were used to recommend it to the ma.s.ses, "to those who are likened to a _herd_; and by the operation of this blessed system are to be transformed from respectable, independent citizens, to abject, dependent subjects or slaves."[1215] Finally, when he felt that he had his hearers once more under his spell, Henry, exclaiming that a Bill of Rights was vital, asked for adjournment, which was taken, the great orator still holding the floor.
FOOTNOTES:
[1111] Though "practical," these methods were honorable, as far as the improper use of money was concerned.
[1112] King to Langdon, June 10, 1788; King, i, 331.
[1113] Hamilton to Madison, May 19, 1788; _Works_: Lodge, ix, 430. See also _ib._, 432.
[1114] Knox to King, June 19, 1788; King, i, 335.
[1115] Hill to Thatcher, Jan. 1, 1788; _Hist. Mag._ (2d Series), vi, 261.
[1116] King to Madison, May 25, 1788; King, i, 329.
[1117] Hamilton to Madison, June 27, 1788; _Works_: Lodge, ix, 436.
Virginia had ratified the Const.i.tution two days before Hamilton wrote this letter, but the news did not reach New York until long afterward.
[1118] Hamilton to Madison, June 8, 1788; _Works_: Lodge, ix, 432-34.
[1119] Grigsby, i, 8. About three eighths of Virginia"s population were slaves valued at many millions of dollars.
[1120] Grigsby, i, footnote to 50; also 32; and see examples given by Judge Scott, in Scott, 235-38.
[1121] Grigsby, i, footnote to 36; and see 29, 62, 339.
[1122] Henry, ii, 339; and Rowland, ii, 223 _et seq._
[1123] Rives, ii, 549.
[1124] Randolph to the Speaker of the House of Delegates, Oct. 10, 1787; Elliott, i, 482-91; also Ford: _P. on C._, 261-76.
[1125] Randolph to Page and others, Dec. 2, 1787; _American Museum_, iii, 61 _et seq._
[1126] _Ib._
[1127] Lee to Randolph, Oct. 16, 1787; Elliott, i, 503. Upon the publication of this correspondence a young Richmond attorney, Spencer Roane, the son-in-law of Patrick Henry, in an article signed "Plain Dealer," published in the _Virginia Gazette_, attacked Randolph for inconsistency. "Good G.o.d! How can the first magistrate and father of a pure republican government ... before his proposed plan of amendment has been determined upon, declare that he will accept a Const.i.tution which is to beget a monarchy or an aristocracy?... Can he foretell future events? How else can he at this time discover what the "spirit of America" is?... How far will this principle carry him? Why, ... if the dominion of Shays, instead of that of the new Const.i.tution, should be generally accepted, and become "the spirit of America," his Excellency would turn Shayite." (Plain Dealer to Randolph, Feb. 13, 1788; Ford: _Essays on the Const.i.tution_, 385; also _Branch Hist. Papers_, 47.) Roane"s letter is important as the first expression of his hostility to the Const.i.tution. He was to become the determined enemy of Marshall; and, as the ablest judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals, the chief judicial foe of Marshall"s Nationalism. (See vol. III of this work.)
[1128] "The importunities of some to me in public and private are designed to throw me unequivocally and without condition, into the opposition." (Randolph to Madison, Feb. 29, 1788; Conway, 101.)
[1129] Washington to Randolph, Jan. 8, 1788; _Writings_: Ford, xi, 204-06.
[1130] Madison to Randolph, Jan. 10, 1788; _Writings_: Hunt, v, 79-84; and see same to same, Jan. 20, 1788 (_ib._, 86-88); and March 3, 1788 (_ib._, 113-14).
[1131] "If he [Randolph] approves it at all, he will do it feebly."
(Washington to Lafayette, April 28, 1788; _Writings_: Ford, xi, 255; and see Madison to Jefferson, April 22, 1788; _Writings_: Hunt, v, 121.)
[1132] Randolph to Madison, Feb. 29, 1788; quoted in Conway, 101.
[1133] "Randolph was still looked upon as an Anti-Federalist by the uninitiated." But his "position ... was evidently no secret to Washington." (Rowland, ii, 210. See also _ib._, 225, 227, 231.)
[1134] _Ib._
[1135] Randolph to Madison, Feb. 29, 1788; Conway, 101.
[1136] Scott, 160.
[1137] Washington to Carter, Dec. 14, 1787; _Writings_: Ford, xi, footnote to 210.
[1138] Smith to Madison, June 12, 1788; Rives, ii, footnote to p. 544.
[1139] _Ib._ "The Baptist interest ... are highly incensed by Henry"s opinions and public speeches." (Randolph to Madison, Feb. 29, 1788; Conway, 101.)
[1140] Smith to Madison, June 12, 1788; Rives, ii, 544.
[1141] Washington to Hamilton, Nov. 10, 1787; _Writings_: Ford, xi, footnote to p. 181.
[1142] Washington to Trumbull, Feb. 5, 1788; _Writings_: Ford, 212. From the first Washington attributed much of the opposition throughout the country to the fact that popular leaders believed that the new National Government would lessen their importance in their respective States.
"The governors elect or to be elected, the legislators, with a long tribe of others whose political importance will be lessened if not annihilated" were, said Washington, against a strong central Government.
(Washington to Knox, Feb. 3, 1787; Sparks, ix, 230; and see Graydon, 340.)
[1143] Washington to Lincoln, April 2, 1788; _ib._, xi, footnote to 239-40.
[1144] "Letters of a Federal Farmer," no. 3; Ford: _P. on C._, 301.
[1145] _Ib._, no. 5, 319.
[1146] Washington to Armstrong, April 25, 1788; _Writings_: Ford, xi, 252; and to Pet.i.t, Aug. 16, 1788; _ib._, 300.
[1147] Madison to Jefferson, April 22, 1788; _Writings_: Hunt, v, 120-22.
[1148] Grigsby, i, 34-35; and footnote to 49.
[1149] Grigsby, i, 64-66; and Elliott, iii, 1.
[1150] Rowland, ii, 222.
[1151] Henry, ii, 345. So angered were the Anti-Const.i.tutionalists that they would not correct or revise Robertson"s reports of their speeches.
(_Ib._)